Packer assembly



Nov. 11, 1969 A. c. DAVIS 3,477,193

PACKER ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 8, 1967 15 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I I 3Q 36' 42 Inflenforx- QZZan/ Cflaz/L's,

@MQW g Nov. 11; 1969 A. c. DAVIS PACKER ASSEMBLY A i---) o G N mw Gm Filed Sept. 8, 1967 v A. C. DAVIS PACKER ASSEMBLY Nov. 11, 1969 is Sheet s-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 8, 1967 W FR u r L n n J Wmw @mw m u ,Qmw gw w m L\ r c www Qww mm 3w 9w Wm. W mun .& g mm M h g w g N mm Nov. 11, 1969 A. c. DAVIS PACKER ASSEMBLY l5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 8, 1967 Nov. 11, 1969 A. c. DAVIS 3,477,193

PACKER ASSEMBLY I FiledSept. 8, 1967 15 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nov. 11, 1969 A. c. DAVIS 3,477,198

PACKER ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 8, 1967 15 Sheets-Sheet '7 l l I I Nmi ll, 1969 A. c. DAVIS PACKER ASSEMBLY 15 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed Sept. 8, 1967 Nov. 11, 1969 A. C. DAVIS PACKER, ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 8, 1967 15 SheetsSheet 9 Nov. 11, 1969 A. c. DAVIS 3,477,198

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PACKER AS SEMBLY Filed Sept. 8 1967 15 Sheets-Sheet l|| J 7 L 41 .15 I .510 1/3 E- l 314} I \308 E l I i ';0g 7 100 gl W a 2 1: i 306 l V l #:1 1::

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PAC-KER ASSEMBLY I Filed Sept. 8-. 1967 l5 Sheets-Sheet 13 I I I I I III I I IIIII 'l-II I I l. III II .I. .III IIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIII'II IIIIIIIIIIIIIII I 6 III! I I I a 4.. M m J I J a w p 2 I IIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIV IIIII. IIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIII I I I l I I I IIIIIILI I I .IIIIIIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIIIIINIIIPIHFI I I T 1 /fi/// I m I I 08 I I I I I I I 3061 I I I l I IL I I I I I I I 11, 1969 A. c. DAVIS 77, 98

PACKER.ASSEMBLY 15 Sheets-Sheet 14 Filed Sept. 8', '19s? v w 343 CONVEYOR MOTOR CONTAINER "L055 353 0p 355 LOADER 154 EN BY PASS 1105220) SAFETY WI H 5 TC INTERLOCK SWITCHES SWITCH ELEVATOR 376' w CLOSED up HOLD BAR OPEN I SWITCH 400 4/04 ELEVATOR DOWN 1Z4 CONTAINER 10 SENSOR P SWITCH CLOSED LOADER our 5 ELEV ZTOR HOLD BA 39 6 LIMIT CLOSE LOADER con/MINER LIMIT CLAMP OPEN SWITCH 1i 0. 4?0

LOADER RETURN I LOADER ia i OUT LE /0 QQZ 446 RETURN s SOLENOID HOLD BAR 4J0 CVL.

Nov. 11, 1969 A. c. DAVIS 3,477,198

PACKER ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 2, 19s? 15 Sheets-Sheet 15 450 LOADER fi 446 452 221 CYL. 1

HOLDBAR i I I ii CYL. I

BAR L CLOSE 470 355 SOLENOID 246 $0 ELEVATOR 400 4 ELEVATOR [1!] CONTAINER 358 CLAMP ops/v 04 SOLENOID CONTAINER CLAMP iu'l'l'i CYL. um: LOADER /304 HEAD United States Patent 3,477,198 PACKER ASSEMBLY Allan C. Davis, Baltimore, Md., assignor to The Meyercord Co., Wheaten, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Sept. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 666,521 Int. Cl. B65b 57/14, 35/52, 43/44 US. Cl. 53-55 .ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates generally to a packer assembly for filling a container with a plurality of articles or cartons. The packer assembly includes a container positioning tower or structure which receives empty containers for movement onto a loading platform. A plurality of tiers or layers of cartons are accumulated in a magazine and are moved into an empty container on the loading platform by a loader or pusher assembly to pack or fill the container. The magazine and pusher assembly are expandable to enable cartons of varying sizes to be packed into containers of varying sizes. An ejector assembly is provided for moving the filled container off the loading platform and positioning a next succeeding container on the loading platform.

DISCLOSURE Many states and municipalities require that revenue or tax stamps or transfers be applied to packages of cigarettes before the cigarettes are sold at retail outlets to the general public. These tax stamps are usually sold by the state or municipality to wholesale distributors who apply the tax stamps to the package of cigarettes. In order to apply the tax stamps, the wholesalers must first open shipping cases or containers which normally contain sixty cartons of cigarettes. After the cartons of cigarettes have been removed from the shipping container and opened, the tax stamps are applied to the packages of cigarettes in the cartons, and the cartons are closed and sealed. Finally, the closed cartons of cigarettes are repacked in the shipping containers for transporting to retailers. One machine for opening the cartons, applying tax transfers to the packages of cigarettes, and closing the cartons is shown in my application Ser. No. 690,346 filed Dec. 13, 1967 and entitled Transfer Applying Apparatus.

It is a common practice to repack the shipping containers by manually placing the closed cartons of stamped cigarette packages back into the empty shipping container. The manual filling or packing of each shipping container with sixty cartons of cigarettes is difiicult and time consuming since the cartons must be neatly arranged in tiers or layers in the shipping container. This manual filling of a shipping container with cartons of cigarettes becomes particularly burdensome when a machine is used to automatically stamp the packages of cigarettes at a rapid rate. However, the development of apparatus or machines for automatically repacking cartons of cigarettes into containers, and thereby eliminating manual repacking, has been severely hampered by the necessity of handling containers and cartons of varying sizes, that is cartons of regular, king-size, and imperial" length cigarettes and their associated shipping containers.

In view of the foregoing remarks it can be seen that the manual filling of shipping containers with cartons of cigarettes is both time consuming and difiicult. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a packer assembly for automatically filling containers with cartons of cigarettes.

34 Claims 3,477,198 Patented Nov. 11, 1969 Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved packer assembly for automatically positioning a container, accumulating a plurality of tiers or layers of articles for insertion into the container, and loading or packing the accumulated articles into the container.

Another object of this invention is to provide a packer assembly for sequentially loading or packing a plurality of containers with articles of varying sizes, such as cartons of regular, king-size, and imperial length cigarettes.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational illustration of apparatus for use when opening a container, removing a plurality of cartons from the opened container, applying transfers to packages within the cartons, and packing the cartons back in the container;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan illustration of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a packer assembly forming a portion of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2, the packer assembly being operable to automatically fill a container with a plurality of cartons;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 44 of FIG. 3, illustrating a switch assembly for sensing a jam or back-up of cartons in the packer assemy;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, taken along the line 55 of FIG. 3, illustrating the packer assembly with a shipping container or case located on a loading platform in an initial position spaced apart from a magazine in which tiers or layers of cartons are accumulated;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view, similar to FIG. 5 illustrating the container in a loading position overlapping sidewalls of the magazine;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 77 of FIG. 6, illustrating an elevator, shown in a lowered position, for lifting the cartons into the magazine where the cartons are accumulated in tiers or layers prior to insertion into a container on the loading platform;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating the actuation of a sensor unit on the magazine by engagement of the sensor unit with an inner surface of the con tainer on the loading platform to thereby indicate the accumulation of sufficient tiers of cartons in the magazine to fill or pack the container;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view, similar to FIG 6, illustrating a pusher or loader assembly for moving the accumulated tiers of cartons from the magazine into the container on the loading platform, the loading assembly being shown in an extended position after having pushed a plurality of tiers of cartons from the magazine into the container;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view, illustrating the loading of an empty container into a container receiving tower or structure which extends upwardly from the loading platform;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 1111 of FIG. 3, of the magazine and elevator;

FIG. 11A is a continuation of FIG. 11 and illustrates the positioning of an empty container on the loading platform;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged elevational sectional view of a container clamp or positioning assembly a sensor unit for detecting the presence of a case or container on the loading platform, and an ejector assembly for moving a filled or packed container off the loading platform and lowering a next succeeding empty container onto the loading platform;

FIG. 13 (on Sheet 6 of the drawings) is a sectional view, taken along the line 1313 of FIG. 12, further illustrating the structure of the sensor unit for detecting the presence of a container on the loading platform;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 1414 of FIG. 12, illustrating the container positioning assembly and a gate assembly through which the filled or packed containers are moved off the loading platform;

FIG. 15 is an enlarged elevational sectional view, taken along the line 1515 of FIG. 6, illustrating the magazine, the elevator in a raised position, and a head or end section of the loader assembly;

FIG. 16 (on Sheet 4 of the drawings) is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 16-16 of FIG. 15, further illustrating the structure of the elevator;

FIG. 17 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 17-17 of FIG. 15, further illustrating the head section of the loader assembly and the magazine;

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration of an electrical control circuit for the packer assembly; and

FIG. 19 is a schematic illustration of a pneumatic control circuit for the packer assembly.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Processing equipment is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 fo use in unpacking containers of cartons of cigarettes, applying tax stamps to packages of cigarettes within cartons, and repacking the cartons into containers. The processing equipment includes a supply conveyor 30 upon which shipping containers holding cartons of cigarettes are transported to an unloading table or station 32. The shipping container can be opened, before being placed on the conveyor 30 or at the unloading table 32, by cutting or severing the shipping container midway between its ends to provide a pair of half sections or containers. Each of these half sections or containers holds thirty cartons of cigarettes arranged in five layers of six cartons. Hereinafter, the word container or case will be used in illustrating the invention to refer to the half sections of the severed shipping container.

The cartons of unstamped packages of cigarettes are unloaded from the containers and placed on a conveyor 34, as indicated at 36 in FIG. 2. The cartons are transported by the conveyor 34 to a loading station 38. The cartons are then moved in groups of three through carton opening, transfer applying and carton closing apparatus indicated generally at 40 in FIG. 2. The apparatus 40 is more fully disclosed in my aforementioned application Ser. No. 690,346 entitled "Transfer Applying Apparatus" and filed on Dec. 13, 1967. The closed cartons of stamped packages of cigarettes are then accumulated on an arcuate group conveyor or transfer table 42 in laterally extending groups of six cartons. The groups of six cartons are moved along the transfer table 42 to a packer supply or carton conveyor 44.

While the cartons of cigarettes are being processed in the previously described manner, the empty containers are placed on an overhead container conveyor 48, as indicated at 50 in FIG. 1. Each of the containers is oriented on the conveyor 48 with an open end of the container facing into the drawing as viewed in FIG. 1 or toward the apparatus 40 as viewed in FIG. 2. The empty containers are transported by the conveyor 48 to an elongated upwardly extending container receiving tower or structure 54 of a packer assembly or apparatus 56. The empty containers are accumulated or stacked in the tower 54 and descend one at a time onto a loading platform at the base of the tower with the open ends of the containers facing a carton magazine or accumulator 58 (see FIG. 3).

Meanwhile, the groups of cartons are moved, one group at a time, onto an elevator 60 (see FIG. 3) by the conveyor 44. The elevator 60 is located immediately beneath the magazine 58 and sequentially lifts the groups of cartons into the magazine where each group forms a tier or layer of cartons. After enough cartons have been acumulated in the magazine 58 to fill a container, in the present instance five tiers of six cartons each, a case lot pusher or loader assembly 62 .(see FIG. 5) is operated. The loader assembly 62 pushes the tiers of cartons into the container on the loading platform to fill or pack the container with the cartons'of stamped packages of cigarettes.

A pair of back-up or jam sensor switch assemblies 66 and 68 are mounted along the conveyor 44 as shown in FIG. 3. The sensor switch assemblies 66 and 68 interconnect the packer assembly 56 and the apparatus 40 to disable the apparatus 40 when a jam or back-up occurs in the packer assembly 56. The sensor switch assembly 68 is shown in FIG. 4 and includes a roller 70 which extends above rollers 72 of the conveyor 44. The roller 70 is connected to a downwardly extending shaft or stem 74 having an annular cam 76. The cam 76 actuates a normally closed switch 78 to open the switch each time a carton moves across the roller 70. The sensor assembly 66 is constructed in the same manner as the sensor assembly 68.

The normally closed switches of the sensor assemblies 66 and 68 are connected in parallel in a circuit for energizing the apparatus 40. Therefore, when the switches for both sensor assemblies 66 and 68 are opened the apparatus 40 is disabled and the groups of cartons are not transported to the conveyor 44 which is continuously driven by a motor 82. It should be noted that the rollers for both of the sensor assemblies 66 and 68 will be depressed at the same time only when there is a back-up of groups of cartons in the packer assembly 56. In this way, the sensor assemblies 66 and 68 insure that when a back-up or jam does occur in the packer assembly 56 the apparatus 40 will be shut down rather than moving additional groups of cartons into the packer assembly to increase the size of the back-up.

In accordance with the present invention, the packer assembly 56 accumulates a plurality of tiers or layers of cartons in the magazine 58 and packs the accumulated cartons into an empty container, indicated at 86 in FIG. 5. The filled or packed container is then ejected from the packer assembly and a next succeeding container is lowered onto the loading platform 88 (see FIG. 3) and filled or packed with subsequently accumulated tiers of cartons. The empty container 86 is initially positioned on the loading platform 88 in a spaced apart relationship with an open end or generally funnel shaped mouth 90 of the magazine 58 (see FIG. 5). An empty container clamp or positioning assembly 94 is mounted adjacent to the loading platform 88 on a side opposite from the magazine 58. The container positioning assembly 94 is operated to move the empty container 86 from the initial position of FIG. 5 to a loading position, shown in FIG. 6, wherein the container is located in an overlapping or generally telescopic relationship with the open end '90 of the magazine 58. When the container 86 is in the loading position, opposite side walls or panels 96 and 98 of the magazine 58 extend into the container 86 to guide the movement of the tiers of cartons from the magazine 58 into the container.

The height of an empty container and the height of a tier of cartons, indicated at 100 in FIG. 7, varies with the size of the packages of cigarettes in the cartonst Therefore, it is desirable to be able to sequentially fill containers of varying sizes with tiers of cartons of varying sizes. To this end, the magazine walls 96 and 98 are expandable upwardly to accommodate tiers of cartons of different sizes. The walls 96 and 98 of the magazine 58 include a pair of opposite inner guide walls or panels 104 and 106 which are fixedly connected at one end to frame members 107 and a pair of opposite outer walls or panels 108 and 110 (see FIGS. 6 and 9). The movable outer panels 108 and 110 are slidably and pivotally connected to mounting rods 111 for both vertical movement and pivoting movement. A spring 112 (see FIG. 17) urges the movable panels 108 and 110 inwardly toward each other. The movable panels 108 and 110 include a transversely extending upper wall section, indicated at 113 in FIG. 7, which form a movable upper end wall or ceiling for the magazine 58. An empty container engaging sensor switch assembly 114 is mounted on the sections 113 of the movable panels 108 and 110. The sensor switch assembly 114 includes a pivotable actuator lever or treadle 116 which is loosely held by brackets 117 to enable the side panels 108 and 110 to be moved apart against the action of the spring 112.

As the magazine 58 is filled with tiers of cartons, the movable side panels 108 and 110 are raised to move the actuator lever 116 of the sensor switch assembly 114 into engagement with an inner upper surface 118 (see FIG. 8) of the empty container 86 on the loading platform 88. Continued upward movement of the side panels 108 and 110 rocks or pivots the lever 116 to actuate the sensor switch assembly 114 and to thereby detect that the accumulated tiers of cartons in the magazine 58 are sufficient to fill the container 86. The upper panels 113 also engage the surface 118 of the container 86 to guide the tier of cartons when they are inserted into the container. Thus, the sensor switch assembly 114 and the expanding walls 96 and 98 enable the magazine 58 to be used with containers 86 of various sizes for holding cartons of different sizes, such as cartons of regular, king-size, and imperial length cigarettes. Although in the present example it is contemplated that a constant number (five) of tiers of cartons will be packed into the empty containers, the sensor switch assembly 114 sensibly engages an empty container on the loading platform 88 when a sufiicient number of cartons have been accumulated in the magazine 58 to fill the container regardless of the number of tiers of cartons to be packed into the container. Therefore, the magazine 58 can be used without adjustment to accumulate varying numbers of tiers of cartons for packing into containers of different sizes.

After a quantity of cartons sufiicient to fill the container 86 have been accumulated, by raising and lowering the elevator 60 to sequentially lift groups of cartons into the magazine 58, the loader assembly 62 is operated to push the cartons from the magazine 58 into the container 86, as shown in FIG. 9. It should be noted that as the loader assembly 62 moves the cartons into the container 86, the container is clamped between the container positioning assembly 94 and the loader assembly 62 to hold the container against movement relative to the magazine 58. The loader assembly 62 then presses the container against the positioning assembly 94 and moves the container away from the magazine 58, that is toward the right as viewed in FIG. 9. This movement aligns the now filled or packed container 86 with an exit opening 120 in a lower portion of the tower 54. The exit opening 120 is normally blocked by a gate or closure assembly 122 which includes a pair of pivotally mounted panels 124 and 126 (see FIG. 6). However, after the carton 86 is moved into alignment with the exit opening 120, the panels 124 and 126 are moved from a blocking or closing position, shown in solid lines in FIG. 6, to an open position, shown in dashed lines in FIG. 6 and solid lines in FIG. 9. The container 86 is released by a contemporaneous retraction of the loader assembly 62 and the positioning assembly 94. The filled or packed container is then pushed off the loading platform 88, by an ejector assembly 130, onto an exit or outfeed conveyor 132 (see FIGS. 2 and 6). The ejector assembly 130 then lowers a next succeeding empty container onto the loading platform 88.

In view of the foregoing remarks, it can be seen that the processing equipment of FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a station where containers of cartons are unpacked. The

cartons are opened and tax stamps or transfers are applied to packages of cigarettes within the cartons by the transfer applying apparatus 40. The cartons are then formed into laterally extending groups with longitudinal axes of the cartons in each group extending generally parallel to each other. The successive groups of cartons are transported to the elevator 60 which raises each group of cartons in turn into the magazine 58 wherein each group forms a layer or tier of six cartons.

As the layers or tiers of cartons are accumulated in the magazine 58, the movable side panels 108 and 110 of the magazine and the sensor switch assembly 114 are raised. When the number of cartons in the magazine 58 is suflicient to fill the container 86 on the loading platform 88, the actuator lever 116 is pivoted by engagement with the container 86 to actuate the sensor switch assembly 114. Upon actuation of the sensor switch assembly 114, the loader assembly 62 is operated to move the tiers of cartons from the magazine 58 into the container 86 while the container is held against movement by the container positioning assembly 94. The container 86 is then moved off the loading platform 88 onto the conveyor 132 by the ejector assembly 130.

CONTAINER SUPPLY APPARATUS The container conveyor 48 transports empty containers from the unloading table 32 to the tower 54. A junction or intersection of the container conveyor 48 and the tower 54 is shown in FIG. 10. The container conveyor 48 includes a plurality of drive belts 136 which engage a longitudinally extending side surface of the containers to frictionally grip and move the containers along the conveyor 48. When the empty containers reach the end of the conveyor 48, the belts 136 continue the forward movement of the containers into an open upper end portion 138 of the tower 54, as illustrated in dashed lines by the container 86 in FIG. 10. Once the container 86 has moved into the open end portion 138 of the tower 54, the container begins to tilt or rotate under the influence of gravity until a leading corner or edge, indicated at 140, engages a downwardly extending pair of belts 142 which move the container down into the tower 54.

The belts 142 extend around an idler pulley 144 at the top of the tower 54 and engage a drive pulley 146 at an intermediate section of the tower. A drive belt 150 is connected to a drive pulley 152 of the conveyor 48 and is twisted for half a turn to rotate the drive pulley 146 and the belts 142 in a counterclockwise direction, that is in the direction of the arrows in FIG, 10. This rotation of the' pulley 146 moves inner portions of the belts 142 downwardly in the tower 54. When the leading edge or corner of the container 86 engages the downwardly moving inner portions of the belts 142, the pivoting or tilting movement of the container is continued by the belts to move the container through the positions indicated in dashed lines in FIG. 10. The container then descends in the tower 54, due to the influence of gravity and the moving belts 142, and is evntually positioned on the loading platform 88 in an orientation similar to the one illustrated in FIGS. 5, 11, and 11A. The closed gates 124 and 126 serve to guide the container as the container approaches the loading platform. As was previously mentioned, the containers are originally placed on the conveyor 48 with an open end of each container facing into the drawing as seen in FIGS. 1 and 10. This original positioning of the container 86 results in the open end of the container facing toward the magazine 58 (see FIG. 5) when the container 86 is on the loading platform 88.

The drive belts 142 substantially reduce the possibility of a container jamming or hanging up in the upper portion of the positioning tower 54. However, a door 154 in the tower 54 provides access to an interior portion of the tower to enable an operator to release any containers which do get caught or hung up in the tower 54. The access door 154 is mounted on a hinge 156 for outward pivoting movement to provide this access to the interior of the tower 54. A combination door handle and latch assembly 158 holds the door 154 closed during normal operations of the packer assembly. However, if and when a carton becomes hung up or caught in the tower 54, the handle 158 can be operated to open the door. The hung up or caught container can then be loosened or released to continue its descent to the loading platform 88.

Assuming that there are no other containers in the tower 54 or on the loading platform 88, after the container 86 has completed its descent through the tower 54, the container comes to rest on the loading platform 88 in the initial position shown in FIGS. and 11a. The weight of the container on the loading platform 88 operates a container sensor or detecting assembly 162 which is best seen in FIGS. 12 and 13. The container sensor assembly 162 includes a switch 164 which is actuated by a lowering or depressing of a resilient leaf spring 166. The leaf spring 166 is depressed or moved downwardly by the weight of a container 86 on a roller 168 of the loading platform 88. The roller 168 (see FIG. 13 on sheet 6 of the drawings) includes a central shaft 170 which extends outwardly to engage the leaf spring 166. The leaf spring 166 normally urges the roller 168 upwardly with the roller shaft 170 engaging a frame member or channel 172 of the loading platform 88. When a container is positioned on the loading platform 88, the weight of the container pivots the roller 168 about an end portion 176 to depress the spring 166 from the normal position shown in FIG. 13 to an operated position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 12. When the spring 166 is depressed, the normally open switch 164 is closed. It should be noted that the spring 166 urges the roller 168 upwardly toward the normal position and resiliently opposes the downward movement of the roller when a container is dropped onto the loading platform. This resilient action of the spring 166 reduces the shock loading on the switch 164.

CONTAINER POSITIONING ASSEMBLY Actuation of the container sensor assembly 162, by the positioning of a container on the loading platform 88, completes control circuitry to operate the container positioning assembly 94 which is illustrated in FIGS. 10, 11a, 12 and 14. Operation of the container positioning assembly 94 moves a clamp plate or panel 178 from a retracted position, shown in solid lines in FIG. 11a, to a clamping position, shown in dashed lines in FIG. 110. This movement of the clamp plate 178 shoves the empty container 86 from the initial position, shown in solid lines in FIG. 11a, to the loading position, shown in dashed lines in FIG. 11a and in solid lines in FIG. 6.

In the present embodiment of the invention, the container positioning assembly 94 includes a drive cylinder 180 (see FIGS. 12 and 14) having a piston which is connected to an upright main drive rack 182. Operation of the drive cylinder 180 reciprocates the main drive rack 182 to rotate drive pinion gears 184 and 186 which are centrally mounted on a pair of cross shafts 188 and 190. The cross shafts 188 and 190 are rotatably mounted on frame members 192 and 194 which are fixedly connected to the frame of the door 154. Driven pinion gears 200, 202, 204 and 206 are rotated with the shafts 188 and 190 upon which they are fixedly mounted. Rotation of the gears 200 through 206 moves a plurality of horizontally disposed racks 210, 212, 214 and 216 which are supported on rollers 217 and are connected at their innermost ends to the clamp plate 178 by mounting frames 218 and 220.

In view of the foregoing remarks, it will be understood, that when the drive cylinder 180 is operated to move the main drive rack 182 downwardly, from the position shown in FIGS. 12 and 14, the drive gears 184 and 186 are rotated. Rotation of the drive gears 184 and 186 rotates the driven gears 200 through 206 to drive the racks 210 through 216 to move the clamp plate 178 outwardly from the retracted or normal position, shown in solid lines in FIG. 11A, to a clamping or holding position, shown in dashed lines in FIG. 11A. This movement of the clamp plate 178 moves the container 86 on the platform 88 from the initial position, shown in solid lines in FIG. 11A, to the loading position, shown in FIG. 6 and in dashed lines in FIGS. 11 and 11A. The sidewalls of container 86 are then located in an overlapping relationship with the side walls 96 and 98 of the magazine 58. When necessary, the positioning assembly 94 can be readily repaired or maintained by merely removing a panel of the door 154 to expose the positioning assembly 94, as seen for example in FIG. 10.

MAGAZINE LOADING The magazine 58 is loaded with a plurality of tiers or layers of cartons by the elevator 60. The elevator 60 lifts the cartons, a group at a time, upwardly into the magazine where each group of cartons forms a tier or layer. The elevator 60 includes three support rollers 230, 232 and 234 which have longitudinal axes extending parallel to the longitudinal axes of the rollers 72 of the conveyor 44 and are rotatably mounted on an elevator carriage 236 (see FIGS. 7 and 11). It should be noted that the axes of the rollers 0n the loading platform 88 extend perpendicularly to the axes of the rollers 72, and 230 through 234 to facilitate moving the packed containers out of the tower 54. The elevator rollers 230 through 234 engage a longitudinally extending drive belt 240 when the elevator is in the lowered or down position of FIG. 7. The drive belt 240 is rotated by the conveyor motor 82 (see FIG. 3) to rotate the rollers 72 of the carton conveyor 44 and the rollers 230 through 234 of the elevator 60. Thus, the groups of cartons are moved along the conveyor 44 by the rotation of the rollers 72. When a group of cartons reaches the end of the conveyor 44, they are moved into engagement with the rollers 230 through 234 of the elevator 60.

The rotation of the rollers 230 through 234 moves the groups of cartons sequentially onto the elevator 60. As the cartons move onto the elevator 60, a plurality of normally open interlock switches 244 (see FIGS. 7, 15 and 17) are actuated, one switch being actuated by each carton to indicate the presence of a complete group of cartons on the elevator. Immediately after actuating the switches 244, a leading end of the cartons engage a stop plate 245 through which actuating levers for the switches 244 project. The stop plate 245 positions the cartons for movement into the magazine 58 and protects the switches 244 against impacts from the cartons.

The elevator is moved from the lowered position to the raised position by a drive cylinder 246 which is connected to the elevator carriage 236. A pair of guide rods or bars 247 are also connected to the carriage 236 and to a movable base plate 248. Before the elevator is moved upwardly to the raised position, a pair of holding bars or plates 250 and 252 are moved from a closed or holding position, shown in dashed lines in FIG. 15, to an open position, shown in solid lines in FIG. 15, by operation of a pair of hold bar drive cylinders 256 and 258 which are best seen in FIG. 11. The holding bars support the tiers of cartons in the magazine 58 by engaging the ends of the lowermost tier of cartons in the magazine. The drive cylinders 256 and 258 are normally retained in a closed position by springs within the cylinders. When the cylinders are operated in response to closing of the switches 244, the holding bars 250 and 252 are moved from the closed position, indicated in dashed lines in FIGS. 11 and 15 to the open position shown in solid lines 1n FIGS. 11 and 15. The hold bar positioning cylinders 256 and 258 can be moved to the open position only when all of the interlock switches 244 have been closed by engagement with cartons on the elevator 60. It should be noted that the provision of six interlock switches 262 insures that six cartons, that is an entire group or tier of cartons, are located on the elevator 60 before the holding bar positioning cylinders 256 and 258 are operated from the closed position to the open position. As previously mentioned, this insures that an incomplete group of cartons cannot be raised into the magazine.

As the holding bar positioning cylinders 256 and 258 are moved to the open position, the holding bars 250 and 252 are moved out of supporting engagement with the tiers 100 of cartons in the magazine 58. During this movement one of the holding bars actuates a switch to complete a control circuit for operating the elevator 60 to raise the elevator. However, before the elevator 60 can begin its upward movement the holding bars 250 and 252 release the tiers of cartons in the magazine 58 for downward movement onto a group or tier of cartons on the elevator 60. Immediately after the holding bars 250 and 252 are moved to the open position and the tiers of cartons in magazine 58 have descended onto the group of cartons on the elevator 60, the elevator 60 is moved to the raised or solid line position of FIG. 15 by the drive cylinder 246. As the elevator is raised the rollers 230 through 234 are moved out of engagement with the drive belt 240 and stop rotating about their longitudinal axes. While the elevator 60 is in the raisedposition shown in FIG. 15, a stop plate 266, which is connected to the elevator carriage 236 and extends transversely across the path of movement of cartons on the conveyor rollers 72, is positioned in a blocking relationship with a next succeeding or incoming group of cartons, indicated at 268 in FIG. 15. The stop plate 266 holds the next succeeding group of cartons against further movement until the elevator 60 and the stop plate are lowered.

When the elevator 60 reaches the end of its upward stroke, that is when the elevator is in theraised position of FIG. 15, an elevator limit switch is actuated and the holding bars 250 and 252 are moved to the closed position, indicated in dashed lines in FIG. 15. Assuming that additional tiers of cartons are required to fill the container 86, the elevator 60 then descends from the raised position, shown in dashed lines in FIG. 15. The tiers 100 of cartons are then supported by the holding bars 250 and 252 which were previously moved back to the holding position.

It should be noted that the holding bar 252 includes a plurality of transversely extending teeth or fingers, some of which have been designated 274 in FIG. 11. A support plate or comb 276 is mounted on the elevator carriage 236 and includes a plurality of transversely extending teeth or fingers, some of which have been indicated at 278 in FIG. 11. The teeth 278 of the plate 276 support the forward end portions of the cartons which are located on the elevator 60 and facilitate a smooth and unobstructed transfer of the cartons from the magazine 58 to an empty container on the loading platform. When the elevator 60 is lowered, the teeth 278 of the plate 276 pass between the teeth 274 of the holding bar 252. The end portions of the cartons which were previously supported by the teeth 278 of the plate 276 are then engaged and supported by the teeth 274 of the holding bar 252.

As the tiers of cartons are accumulated in the magazine 58, the upper tier of cartons approaches the upper sections 113 of the movable outer panels 108 and 110 of the magazine. When the upper tier of cartons engages or is immediately adjacent to the upper sections 113, the movable outer panels 108 and 110 are lifted or raised by the placement of the next tier of cartons in the magazine 58. In the present embodiment of the invention, when four tiers of cartons have been accumulated in the magazine 58 the movable walls 108 and 110 are in a lowered or retracted position shown in FIG. 7. When the fifth tier of cartons is lifted into the magazine 58 by the elevator 60 (see FIGS. 15 and 17), the outer movable panels 108 and 110 are raised or extended relative to the fixed inner panels 104 and 106. This upward movement of the outer panels 108 and 110 moves the sensor switch assembly 114 upwardly to engage the container 86 on the loading platform 88 and actuates the sensor switch assembly 114. This actuation of the sensor switch assembly 114 indicates that a sufficient number of cartons (thirty) have been accumulated int he magazine 58 to fill the container 86 (see FIGS. 7 and 8). A control circuit is completed by actuation of the sensor switch assembly 114 to operate the loader assembly 62 to push the tiers of cartons from the magazine 58 into the container 86 (see FIG. 9).

LOADER ASSEMBLY The loader assembly 62 (see FIG. 5) pushes the tiers of cartons from the magazine 58 into a container 86 on the loading platform 88 to fill or pack the container. The loader assembly 62 includes a double acting main or central drive cylinder 290 which is connected to a head section 292. When the drive cylinder 290 is operated, the head section 292 is moved into the magazine 58, that is the head section is moved from the retracted or initial position shown in FIG. 5 to an extended or loading position shown in FIG. 9. This movement of the head section 292 shoves or pushes the tiers of cartons into the container 86 to fill or pack the container. The head section 292 is then moved back to the retracted position, as shown in FIG. 5, by the double acting cylinder 290. A pair of guide shafts 294 and 296 are connected to the head section 292 and supported by hearing 298 to guide the movement of the head section 292 between the retracted and extended positions.

The head section 292 is extendible upwardly from an initial position, shown in FIG. 7, to the position shown in FIG. 15 to enable the head section 292 to be used to move 'tiers of cartons of various heights into a container 86 on the loading platform 88. To this end, the head section 292 includes a fixed plate or panel 300 and a movable plate or panel 302 (see FIG. 15) which is connected to a head section adjusting cylinder 304. The cylinder 304 is connected by a frame 306 to the fixed plate 300, and a piston 308 is connected by a bracket 310 to the movable plate 302. Thus, when the piston 308 is extended from the cylinder 304, the movable plate 302 is lifted relative to the fixed plate 300 to extend the head section 292 upwardly.

As is perhaps best seen in FIG. 17, a pair of rollers or wheels 314 and 316 are rotatably mounted on the movable plate 302 for engagement with the upper sections 113 of the movable side panels 108 and 110 of the magazine 58. Suflicient fluid pressure is maintained in the cylinder 304 to move the panel 302 upwardly to maintain a continuous engagement between the rollers 314 and 316 and the upper sections 113 of the movable side panels 108 and 110 as the side panels are raised by the accumulation of tiers of cartons in the magazine 58. It should be noted that while pneumatic pressure in the cylinder 304 is sufiicient to raise the movable panel 302 upwardly, the pneumatic pressure is insuificient to raise the movable panels 108 and 110. Thus, the head section 292 is expanded automatically to correspond to the vertical height of the tiers of cartons in the magazine 58 as the side walls of the magazine 58 are expanded by the accumulation of tiers of cartons.

After a quantity of cartons sufficient to fill the container 86 have been accumulated in the magazine 58 and the sensor switch unit 114 has been actuated, the head section 292 is moved from the retracted position of FIG. 6 to the extended position of FIG. 9 to push the tiers of cartons from the magazine 58 into the container 86. During this movement from the retracted position to the extended position, the tiers of cartons are pushed outwardly through the funnel shaped mouth or open end of the magazine. As the cartons are first moved toward the open end 90 of the magazine 58, they press or cam the side walls 96 and 98 of the magazine outwardly relative to each other from the position shown in FIG. 6 to the position shown 

